PVT ECONOMIC ZONES

Govt scraps stamp duty on land registration

The government has exempted the private economic zones developers from paying stamp duty on land registration to facilitate the investors in expediting establishment of the economic zones in the country. Internal Resources Division of the finance ministry on September 21 issued a gazette notification waiving the duty for consortiums or joint venture companies formed to develop private economic zones. IRD officials said that they took the decision following a request from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority for withdrawal of the duty. Generally, stamp duty at the rate of 3 per cent is applicable on the total registration value of land for developing economic zones. Stamp duty will create an additional burden on investors as they have to pay a large amount of money as the duty on the total value of land. Each private economic zone will be set up on several acres of land.The decision will reduce the cost of investment, BEZA officials said. The BEZA is planning to set up 100 economic zones in the country by 2030 with a goal to create one crore new jobs, earn additional $40 billion export earnings and attract $20 billion foreign direct investment. The EZs will be established both with public and private investment. BEZA, under the Prime Minister’s Office, has already awarded prequalification licences and final licences to 15 companies for developing special economic zones at different parts of the country. The private economic zones include Meghna Economic Zone, AK Khan and Company, Abdul Monem Economic Zone, Aman Economic Zone and Bay Economic Zone. The government has already declared different types of incentives including tax holiday for 10 years for private investors including developers of the economic zones.